_How Sandoval arrives in the town of Tustepec, what he did there;
his march to the river Guacasualco, and what further happened._
As soon as Sandoval arrived in the township of Tustepec, messengers of
peace came to him from every part of the province, and there were only a
few Mexican chiefs who durst not make their appearance, on account of
the sixty Spaniards, with their wives, (all of Narvaez's corps,) who had
been massacred in this place. It was two months after this tragical
affair that I arrived at Tustepec with Sandoval, and I took up my
quarters in a kind of tower, which had been a temple. In this same tower
my unfortunate countrymen had sought refuge when they were attacked by
the inhabitants, and had defended themselves until hunger, thirst, and
wounds put an end to their existence. I selected this tower, which was
very high, to rid myself of the moschitoes, which swarmed in this
neighbourhood, and plagued us all day long; besides which, I was here in
the immediate vicinity of Sandoval's quarters, which rendered mine
doubly convenient to me.
Sandoval was very desirous of getting the above-mentioned chiefs into
his power, and at length succeeded in capturing the principal one, who
was tried, and sentenced to the stake. Several other Mexicans were
brought in at the same time with this chief, but though they had equally
deserved death, they were allowed to go at large, and thus one had to
suffer for all. Sandoval then sent to the townships of the province of
the Tzapotecs, which lay about forty miles further on, desiring them to
despatch messengers of peace to him; but they refusing to do so, he
ordered off the captain Briones (who had commanded one of the
brigantines, and had, as he himself assured us, signalized himself in
the Italian wars,) against them, with one hundred men, among whom there
were thirty crossbow-men and musketeers, besides one hundred auxiliaries
of the allied provinces. The Tzapotecs were duly apprized of Briones's
approach, and lay in ambush for him, from which they fell suddenly upon
him, and wounded more than a third part of his men, of whom one died
soon after. The Tzapotecs inhabit the most rugged and inaccessible
mountain districts, where no cavalry can approach, and even the foot
soldiers could with difficulty move along narrow paths, one behind the
other; besides which, these mountains are enveloped in everlasting
mists, and the dew is always falling, which renders the ground so
slippery that it is dangerous to move along. The lances of this people
were also very formidable, and much longer than ours, and provided with
a species of blade made of flint, which is much sharper than a Spanish
sword. They also had light shields, which covered the whole body, and
they use the bow, the pike, and the sling. When these wild people, who
are excessively nimble, bounded from one rock to another, where our men
could not get at them, they communicated with each other by means of
piping and shouting, and the noise rolled and resounded through the
mountains for a length of time, until lost in distant echoes.
The captain Briones then returned with a great number of his men
wounded, he himself having been struck by an arrow. The township where
he met with this defeat was called Tiltepec, and the inhabitants
subsequently submitted of their own accord, when the district was given
as a commendary to a soldier, named Ojeda, the one-eyed, who at present
lives in the town of San Ildefonso.
When Briones called upon Sandoval to give him an account of his
expedition, and said a great deal about the courage of the Tzapotecs,
Sandoval reminded him of the many bloody engagements he had spoken of in
his Italian campaigns, and added, "It appears, nevertheless, captain,
that you experienced hotter work on this occasion than in any of your
previous battles?"
Briones, who appeared greatly annoyed, swore that he would at any time
rather stand over against heavy cannon and a large army, would even
rather fight against the Turks and Saracens, than against the Tzapotecs;
and adduced good reasons for saying so.
To this Sandoval immediately answered, "Then I must say I am sorry I
gave you that command; but after the many things you have told us of
your Italian campaigns, I could not help thinking but this expedition
would be a mere frolic to you. In what light will these Tzapotecs look
upon us henceforth? At present they will certainly entertain a different
notion of our bravery to what they did previously!"
After this unfortunate expedition, Sandoval sent word to the inhabitants
of the province of Xaltepec that they should despatch ambassadors to us,
and declare themselves vassals of our emperor. This tribe also belongs
to the Tzapotecs, and their country is bounded by that of the Minxes,
another very courageous and warlike tribe, with whom the Xaltepecs
happened to be at war just then. Twenty of the caziques and principal
personages soon made their appearance, bringing with them a present of
gold dust in ten small tubes, besides various pretty ornaments. These
chiefs were clad in very large cotton cloaks, which hung down to their
feet, and were embroidered after the manner of the Moorish mantle. They
presented themselves to Sandoval with a most respectful demeanour, who
received them most courteously, and gave them some glass beads. This
kind reception emboldened them to beg of him that some of his teules
might accompany them home, in order to assist their country in a war
against the Minxes; but as Sandoval at that moment could not well spare
any of his men, as a great part of Briones' detachment was wounded, and
many suffering with fever, of which four men had recently died, he put
off these chiefs with many flattering assurances, and promised them he
would request Malinche, who was at Mexico, to send a strong body of
teules to their assistance; in the meantime he would send eight of his
companions with them to explore the dangerous passes and that part of
the country from which they intended to fall upon the Minxes. But
Sandoval's real motive in sending these ten soldiers with them was, that
they might visit those districts, and particularly the mines whence the
Xaltepecs obtained their gold. Three of the caziques Sandoval desired
should remain with him, and the rest left in our company. It happened
that there were three soldiers of the name of Castillo in Sandoval's
troops, who all accompanied the caziques on this occasion. One was
Alonso de Castillo, surnamed the _Discreet_, because he always gave a
ready and suitable answer to any question that was put to him; the
second was myself, whom the soldiers surnamed the _Gallant_, for at that
time I prided myself very much on my courteous behaviour: the third
Castillo had a very meditative countenance, and always took a long time
to consider before he replied; but when he did it was sure to be
something very ridiculous, and he was surnamed the _Deliberate_. But
enough of this. We arrived in the province, and began diligently to
explore the mines, accompanied by a great number of Indians, who washed
the gold dust for us in a kind of trough, from the sand of three
different rivers. In this way we obtained four tubes full of gold dust,
each about the thickness of the middle finger. Sandoval was highly
delighted when we brought him these, and concluded that the country must
contain rich gold mines. He then divided the townships of the province
among those of his men whom he intended leaving behind; for himself he
took the townships of Guazpaltepec, which at that time was by far the
best property in this province, and lay in the neighbourhood of the
mines, from which Sandoval collected above 15,000 pesos' worth of gold,
and he was quite surprised at his own good fortune. The chief command of
the province he gave to Luis Marin, and presented him with lands equal
to an earldom; in the course of time, however, these possessions turned
out less valuable than was at first expected. Sandoval also offered me
some very good and valuable townships in this province, and I wish to
heavens I had accepted of them. These places were called Maltlatan,
Ozotekipa, and Orizaba, where the viceroy at present has a mill. I
refused these possessions, because I considered that I was in honour
bound not to leave Sandoval, who was my particular friend. He was well
aware of my reasons, and in the subsequent campaigns I made with him he
strove in every way to further my views.
In this province Sandoval laid the foundation of a town, which, by the
desire of Cortes, he named Medellin, after the latter's native place, in
Estremadura. There was a bay in this province, into which the
Chalchocucea river[32] empties itself, or, as we termed it, the Banderas
stream, where we made the 16,000 pesos during the expedition under
Grijalva; at first all communication with Spain was from this harbour,
until Vera Cruz became the chief port.
We now marched towards the river Guacasualco, and we may have been about
240 miles from the last-mentioned town, when we arrived on the confines
of the province of Citla, the climate of which is the most bracing of
all, the country itself abounding in provisions, and more thickly
populated than any we had visited. It was of this province I remarked
that it was forty-eight miles long, as many in breadth, with a vast
population.
When we arrived at the river Guacasualco we sent for the caziques of the
different townships; but as three days passed by without any one making
his appearance, or our receiving any answer, we concluded the
inhabitants were preparing to attack us. At first, indeed, they had
resolved to oppose our crossing the river, but they soon came to a more
reasonable determination, and arrived in our camp on the fifth day with
a supply of provisions, and a few ornaments of very pure gold. They
immediately offered to furnish us with a sufficient number of large
canoes, if we felt any inclination to cross the river. Sandoval thanked
them for their kind offer, but previously held a consultation with us as
to whether it was advisable for all the troops to cross over at once;
and we resolved that four men should first pass over, to see how matters
stood in the township opposite, which lay close to the river side, and
to get the chief cazique, whose name was Tochel, into their power. Four
of our men accordingly went across the river, and after looking well
about them, they brought us word that everything wore the most peaceable
aspect, and were accompanied by the son of Tochel, who came with another
small present of gold. Sandoval was vastly pleased with this news, and
desired the caziques to furnish him with 100 canoes, which were fastened
two and two together, to convey the horses across the river. It happened
to be the day of Pentecost when we crossed over, and for this reason we
called the township, which lay on this river, Villa de Espiritu Santo;
also because it was the anniversary of the day on which we defeated
Narvaez under the cry of Espiritu Santo.
As this province submitted to our arms without offering any resistance,
the flower of the troops which went out with Sandoval on this occasion,
settled down here; as for instance, besides Sandoval himself, Luis
Marin, Diego de Godoy, Francisco de Medina, Francisco Marmolejo,
Francisco de Lugo, Juan Lopez de Aguirre, Hernando de Montes de Oca,
Juan de Salamanca, Diego de Azamar, Mexia Rapapelo, Alonso de Grado, the
licentiate Ledesma, Luis de Bustamente, Pedro Castellar, the captain
Briones, a certain Mantilla, myself and several other cavaliers and men
of distinction, all of whom I am unable to mention by name; but the
reader may have some idea of our numbers, when I inform him that on days
of parade, or whenever an alarm was sounded, we could always muster in
the great square above eighty men on horseback; and it must be
remembered that eighty horse at that time was more than five hundred at
the present day; for horses were very scarce then in New Spain,
excessively dear, and often not to be had at any price.
The following are the provinces which Sandoval divided into commendaries
on this occasion, after they had been fully explored by our
troops,--Guacasualco, Guazpaltepec, Tepeca, Chinanta, and the
Tzapotecas; along the banks of the river there were: Copilco, Cimatan,
Tabasco, the mountains of Cachula, the country of the Zoqueschas and of
the Quilenes; the districts of Tacheapa, Cinacatan and Papanachasta. All
these districts were divided among the inhabitants of the new town, and
as far as regards myself I should have been perfectly contented if I
could have kept what I obtained on this occasion; but the country was of
itself not very productive, and then we were led into ruinous lawsuits
with three towns, which had by degrees sprung up in these parts; for
instance, the town of Vera Cruz laid claim to Guazpaltepec, Chinanta,
and Tepeca; Tabasco to the province of the Quilenes and Zogues; and,
lastly, the town of Santo Ildefonso to the province of the Tzapotecs. If
we had been allowed to retain our original boundaries we should have
been rich men, but when his majesty issued an order that the boundaries
of every Indian township and of all the Spanish towns should be
accurately defined, our possessions became so terribly curtailed on
every side, that at last we had nothing but a blank remaining, which is
the reason why Guacasualco, which was at first the most beautiful and
most thriving settlement of all, and where the most noble of the
conquistadores of all New Spain had settled, fell to nothing again, and
is at present a mere village, with a scanty population. While Sandoval
was busily occupied with the founding of this town and in subduing other
provinces, intelligence arrived that a vessel had run into the river
Aguayalco, which forms a very bad harbour, and lies about sixty miles
from Guacasualco. The passengers on board this vessel were Donna
Catalina, the wife of Cortes; her brother Juan Juarez, who subsequently
settled in Mexico; the lady Gambrana, with her sons; Villegas, with his
daughters; and even their grandmother, besides several other married
ladies. If I am not mistaken there was also Elvira Lopez, the tall, the
wife of Juan Palma, who came with us to New Spain, but was subsequently
condemned to the gallows; after which his widow married a certain
Argueta. Of the number of gentlemen who came on this occasion, I
remember a certain Antonio Diosdato, who settled in Guatimala.
On the first intelligence of their arrival, Sandoval left with most of
the officers and several of the soldiers to pay his respects to these
ladies, and to those by whom they were accompanied. I still remember how
heavily it rained at the time, and the difficulty we experienced in
crossing the rivers, which had all overflowed their banks; heavy gales
were blowing from the north, and indeed it was from distress of weather
that the vessel had put into that harbour. Donna Catalina and all the
passengers were highly delighted at our arrival, and they immediately
accompanied us back to Guacasualco, from whence Sandoval despatched a
courier to Mexico to inform Cortes of the arrival of his wife; who, with
the other ladies, soon after left for the same place, accompanied by
Sandoval, Briones, Lugo, and other cavaliers.
It is said that Cortes was greatly vexed when he received intelligence
of their arrival, though he did not show it, and even issued the
necessary orders to give his wife a splendid reception. On the whole of
her road to Mexico, as may be imagined, the greatest honours were paid
to her, and when she arrived in the city itself all manner of
festivities and tournaments took place to welcome her arrival. But the
joy of this excellent lady was of short duration, for scarcely three
months had elapsed when we received intelligence of her death, from a
violent asthma.
I must now relate what befel Villafuerta, who was sent out to colonize
Zacatula, and Juan Alvarez Chico, who marched to Colima for a like
purpose. Both of them had encountered the most obstinate resistance from
the inhabitants, the whole of whom rose up in arms against them and
killed several of their men. Cortes was excessively annoyed at the
unfortunate termination of these expeditions; but as Oli happened to
return about the same time from Mechoacan with a great quantity of gold,
after having restored perfect tranquillity to that district, he looked
upon him as the most likely man to subdue the provinces of Zacatula and
Colima. He therefore despatched him thither as commander-in-chief with
fifteen horse and thirty musketeers and crossbow-men.
When Oli had arrived within a short distance of Zacatula, a large body
of the enemy suddenly fell upon his troops in a narrow pass, with great
dexterity; killed two of his men and wounded several others; he
nevertheless drove them back, and safely reached the town built by
Villafuerta, which with the whole settlement he found in a miserable
condition. No one durst stir out of the town to visit the townships
which had been bestowed upon him as a commendary; for the inhabitants
had already put four Spaniards to death who had attempted to collect
their rents.
In all the provinces where Spanish settlements are formed, the chief
colonists are presented with commendaries, and it is when these persons
travel to the different townships to demand their tribute, that the
inhabitants generally rise up in arms and murder every Spaniard they can
seize. Christobal de Oli, therefore, had to fight many a severe battle
before he could put down the insurrection, and he lost many of his men.
What became of Juan Alvarez Chico, who had been sent to form settlements
in Colima, I cannot exactly remember, though I think he was killed in
one of the battles he fought with the natives.
After Oli, as he thought, had restored peace to the province, he
returned to Mexico, he having a short time previously married a
beautiful Portuguese lady, named Filipa de Araujo; but he had scarcely
set foot in Mexico when he received intelligence that the two provinces,
Zacatula and Colima had again risen up in arms. This happened just about
the time when Sandoval reached Mexico with Cortes' wife, and our general
thought it best to despatch Sandoval to these rebellious provinces,
though he could only furnish him with a few horse, and fifteen
crossbow-men and musketeers; but every one of these men were of the
original conquistadores, who made very short work with the rebels,
punished two of the caziques of Colima, and completely quelled the
rebellion, nor did the inhabitants ever after break out into
hostilities. Sandoval was equally successful in Zacatula, so that he
soon returned to Mexico.
We who were stationed at Guacasualco, had in the meantime also our work
to do, for scarcely had Sandoval departed when most of the provinces in
which our commendaries lay again revolted, and it was with great
difficulty we at length succeeded in tranquillising the inhabitants. The
first district which had rebelled was that part of Xaltepec lying among
rugged and almost inaccessible mountains, inhabited by a tribe of the
Tzapotecs; this example was followed by Cimatan and Copilco, which are
situated between large rivers and morasses; and, within forty-eight
miles of Guacasualco, a Spaniard had been murdered on his own property.
While the whole of us regidors, with the captain Luis Marin, and one of
the alcaldes of the town were making arrangements for an expedition
against the rebellious provinces, we were informed that a small vessel
had run into the harbour, having on board Juan Bono de Quexo. This man
said he came with authority from our emperor, we therefore determined to
call upon him without delay to inquire the nature of his business.
This Bono had first arrived in New Spain with Narvaez, and thus he was
well known to us all. After he had given each of us a hearty embrace, he
desired us to call a council of the chief authorities of the town, that
he might notify to them certain powers with which he was invested by his
majesty, and lay before them the instructions he had received from the
bishop of Burgos, from whom he brought letters for all of us. He was
provided with a number of blank papers, with only the bishop's signature
attached to them, which Juan Bono now filled up with the names of the
regidors, accompanied by all manner of fine promises, according to the
instructions he had received from the bishop; these appointments were to
be presented to the proper persons mentioned therein, if we gave up
possession of the country to Cristobal de Tapia. This Bono was not at
all aware that Tapia had returned to St. Domingo; and the bishop had so
little suspected that we should not have acknowledged the authority of
Tapia, that he sent Bono after him with this commission. Among others,
my name was also put down in one of these appointments, as regidor.
Bono did not disclose any part of his commission, or produce any of his
papers, until we were all duly assembled in council; but as soon as he
mentioned the nature of his business, we stopped any discussion on the
matter, by telling him that Tapia himself had long ago left New Spain
again, and we advised him to repair to Mexico, and lay his commission
before Cortes.
When Bono, to his great surprise, found that Tapia had left the country,
he became quite downcast, set sail the very next day for Vera Cruz, from
whence he journeyed overland to Mexico. What passed between him and
Cortes I do not know, but I understood that the latter supplied him with
a certain sum of money to defray the expenses of his voyage back to
Spain.
I could say a good deal of the numerous battles we fought, and of the
great fatigues we underwent during our stay at Guacasualco, in putting
down the frequent insurrections in the provinces; but it is high time I
should relate something about the expedition of Alvarado to the province
of Tutepec.